Lexus RC interior
The Lexus RC interior looks unlike anything you get in most sports saloons, but it’s let down by an infuriating infotainment system
Style
The Lexus RC’s cabin is an odd mismatch of futuristic styling and old-school details. The sweeping, layered dashboard looks unlike anything you’ll find in the comparatively mundane BMW 4 Series, yet the analogue clock and old-fashioned gear lever feel like they’ve been borrowed from a car from the nineties.
Similarly, you don’t get a slick digital driver’s display like other more modern cars in the Lexus range, and the button-heavy centre console has more in common with a common-or-garden household stereo than a flashy sports coupe.
That being said, the RC’s cabin still feels a little bit special. All the materials you’ll regularly touch feel lovely and plush and nothing creaks or squeaks – no matter how hard you prod.
Unfortunately, you don’t get leather seats in entry-level cars and only F Sport models get shiny aluminium trim for the door sills and pedals.
The Lexus RC’s interior looks great and feels solid, but it comes with quite a few old-school features. You won’t find a CD player in any alternatives, for example…
- Used
- £19,995
Infotainment
The Lexus RC’s infotainment system is the cabin’s biggest failing. Rather than a touchscreen or rotary dial, you control the 10.3-inch display using a trackpad on the centre console – rather like using a laptop. This is fine if you’re sitting in a Starbucks drive-through sipping a chai latte, but not when you’re driving. Trying to operate the Lexus RC’s system in anything other than gridlock is a serious test of your ability to multitask.
The system’s small icons aren’t particularly easy to read and the various sub-menus for the sat-nav and stereo aren’t laid out very intuitively. It doesn’t help that you have to carefully guide a cursor over the screen to select each item rather than scrolling through them one after the other.
You do get a few physical shortcut buttons to help you out, but these are split between the dashboard and the centre console. Thankfully, there’s a physical volume knob and a home button to rescue you should you get lost in the RC’s seemingly endless menus.
You get sat-nav as standard which delivers concise directions that are easy to follow, but it isn’t particularly easy to program. If you aren’t a fan of Lexus’ own system, you can connect your phone using Apple CarPlay and use your phone’s navigation apps instead.
You can also play music through the RC’s stereo – a 10-speaker Pioneer unit. Upgrade to a high-spec Takumi car and you get a beefier 17-speaker Mark Levinson system. Unusually for a modern car, both come with a DVD player as standard.
- Used
- £19,995